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Anonymous ID: 1f02e1 June 28, 2019, 9:32 a.m. No.6866086   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>6127 >>6164 >>6245 >>6494 >>6644

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-cia-for-inspector-generals-report-on-mena-arkansas-airport-drug-arms-smuggling-allegations/

 

Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Inspector General’s Report on Mena, Arkansas, Airport Drug, Arms Smuggling Allegations

 

Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA seeking the CIA Inspector General’s November 1996 report related to a drug-running, arms smuggling and intelligence operation involving Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Arkansas.

 

The airfield in Mena was alleged to have been used in the 1980s by the CIA during the Reagan administration to smuggle arms to rebels in Nicaragua. A central figure in the operation was Barry Seal, a pilot and drug smuggler for Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel who became an undercover agent and informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

 

In November 1996, then-CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz absolved the CIA of involvement in the operation.

 

Hitz at the time said that “no evidence has been found to indicate that the CIA or anyone acting on its behalf participated in, or otherwise had knowledge of, any illegal or improper activities in Mena, Arkansas or the area north of Mena known as Nella, Arkansas.”

 

Judicial Watch sued the CIA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia after the agency failed to respond to a June 29, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:19-cv-00672)). Judicial Watch seeks:

 

The CIA Inspector General’s report issued in November 1996 relating to a drug-running, money laundering and intelligence gathering operation involving an airport in Mena, Arkansas.

 

Judicial Watch chief investigative reporter Micah Morrison has written extensively on the activities surrounding the Mena airport. In an October 18, 1994, editorial feature for The Wall Street Journal titled “The Mena Coverup” Morrison wrote: “What do Bill Clinton and Oliver North have in common, along with the Arkansas State Police and the Central Intelligence Agency? All probably wish they had never heard of Mena.”

 

Morrison noted that Seal, who by 1984 was a DEA informant, “flew at least one sting operation to Nicaragua for the CIA.” Seal was murdered in 1986 by Colombian hitmen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Anonymous ID: 1f02e1 June 28, 2019, 9:34 a.m. No.6866097   🗄️.is đź”—kun

>>6866084

 

If more than 20 make the debate stage, these 11 candidates will make the new cutoff because they have qualified on both polling and donations:

 

Former vice president Joe Biden

Sen. Cory Booker: After making a big push for donors this past month, the New Jersey senator celebrated by Face Timing with his 65,000th donor.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg: Also, his name is pronounced BOOT-EDGE-EDGE.

Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: The congresswoman from Hawaii is one of the lesser-known names to be in this top tier of debate qualifiers.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.): After months of being right on the bubble, her campaign said Monday she had reached the requisite amount of donors. That plus her polling requirements means she’s safely on the debate stage. A top campaign official to Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) donated to her, saying her voice is needed on the debate stage in the wake of the Alabama abortion ban. (Hey, a donation is a donation, according to the rules.)

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.)

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke: His campaign said he got money from twice as many donors as he needed within the first 24 hours of announcing his candidacy.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)

Marianne Williamson: The spiritual author was the only candidate to qualify on donors alone. But as of Thursday, she has qualified for the debate in polling as well by reaching 1 percent in there polls, securing her spot on the stage.

Andrew Yang: Yang, a businessman, is another lesser-known name guaranteed a spot on the debate, though he has been drawing big crowds.